West European Politics articles from October 1998

West European Politics archives from October 1998

Party and Government: An Inquiry into the Relationship Between Governments and Supporting Parties in Liberal Democracies.(Review)
October 1, 1998... Edited by JEAN BLONDEL and MAURIZIO COTTA. London: Macmillan, 1996. Pp.x + 284, biblio., index. [pounds]35 ISBN 0-333-61660-X. This is the latest in a series of books about cabinet government in Western Europe that has been produced by a...

Understanding Governance: Policy Networks Governance: Reflexivity and Accountability.(Review)
October 1, 1998... By R.A.W. RHODES. Buckingham Open University Press 1997. Pp.xii + 235, biblio., index. [pounds]45 (cloth); [pounds]16.99 (paper). ISBN 0-335-19728-0 and -19727-2. Rod Rhodes, following Jim Sharpe, calls this collection of by-and-large...

Institutional Design in New Democracies: Eastern Europe and Latin America.(Review)
October 1, 1998... Edited by A. LIJPHART and C.H. WAISMAN. Boulder: Westview Press, 1996. Pp.xvi + 265, biblio., index. [pounds]53 (cloth); [pounds]15.95 (paper). ISBN 0-8133-2108-5 and -2109 By J. ELSTER, C. OFFE and U.K. PREUSS. Cambridge: Cambridge...

Institutional Design in Post-Communist Societies: Rebuilding the Ship at Sea.(Review)
October 1, 1998... By J. ELSTER, C. OFFE and U.K. PREUSS. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp.xii + 350, biblio, index. [pounds]40 (cloth); [pounds]14.95 (paper). ISBN 0-521-47836-1 and -47931-2 A happy and seemingly endless flow of transitions,...

Le Gaullisme apres de Gaulle.(Review)
October 1, 1998... By A. KNAPP. Paris:Seuil, 1996. Pp.897, 54 tables, 29 maps, 11 graphs, biblio., index. FF195. ISBN 2-02-023167-0. This is more than just the French translation of Dr Knapp's Gaullism since de Gaulle (Dartmouth 1994), since it has been...

French Politics and Society.(Review)
October 1, 1998... By ALlSTAIR COLE. London: Prentice Hall, 1998. Pp.xvi + 271,1 map, biblio., index. [pounds]14.95 (paper). ISBN 0-1343-3954-1. This is an introductory text on French politics which has the great merit of being both comprehensive in its...

The Military in Greek Politics: From Independence to Democracy.(Review)
October 1, 1998... By THANOS VEREMIS. London, C. Hurst, 1997. Pp.xvii + 227, note on sources, index. [pounds]16.95. ISBN 9-185065-3038. This book is written by one of Greece's most highly-respected political scientists. The author has had a long acquaintance...

The Social Democratic State: The Swedish Model and the Bureaucratic Problem of Social Reforms.(Review)
October 1, 1998... By BO ROTHSTEIN. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996. Pp.xi + 231, biblio., index. $39.95 (cloth); $ 19.95 (paper). ISBN 0-8229-3881-2 and - 5674-8. In his volume Policy Analysis, Rune Premfors argues that the Swedish model of political...

Representation from Above.(Review)
October 1, 1998... By PETER ESAIASSON and SOREN HOLMBERG. Aldershot: Dartmouth, 1996. Pp.360, biblio., index.[pounds]42.50. ISBN 1-85521-746-5. Based on surveys of all Riksdag members in 1968,1985 and 1988, this joint-authored volume provides a systematic and...

The Bargaining Democracy.(Review)
October 1, 1998... Edited by LARS-GORAN STENELO and MAGNUS JERNECK, Lund University Press: Lund, 1996. Pp.301, biblio., index. NP. ISBN 91-7966-385-0 (Lund) and 0-86238-452-4 (Chartwell Bratt). The 'Bargaining Democracy' in question is Sweden and the book,...

The Actors in Europe's Foreign Policy.(Review)
October 1, 1998... Edited by C. HILL. London and New York: Routledge, 1996. Pp.xii + 316, index. [pounds]45 (cloth); [pounds] 14.99 (paper). ISBN 0-415-122228 and - 12223-6. Successor to National Foreign Policies and European Political Cooperation (1983),...

Polics and Society in Scotland.(Review)
October 1, 1998... By ALICE BROWN, DAVID MCCRONE and LINDSAY PATERSON. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 1996. Pp.xvii + 254, 35 tables, guide to reading, biblio., index. [pounds]40 (cloth); [pounds]12.99 (paper). ISBN 0-333-64290-2 and -64291-0. This...

Thatcherism and Territorial Politics: A Welsh Study.(Review)
October 1, 1998... By D. GRIFFITHS. Aldershot: Avebury Press, 1996. Pp.x + 182, 32 tables, biblio., index. [pounds]32.50. ISBN 185972-296-2. With a devolved Welsh Assembly opening its doors in 1999, Dylan Griffiths' book provides an interesting reminder of...

Minority Nationalism and European Integration.(Review)
October 1, 1998... By PETER LYNCH. Cardiff: Cardiff University of Wales Press, 1996.Pp.x + 228. [pounds]39.99. ISBN 0-7083-1277-9. This is an important book which begins to assess the relationship between European integration and minority nationalism. It...

The memory of the civil war in the transition to democracy: the peculiarity of the Basque case.(Special Issue on Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain: No Longer Different?)
October 1, 1998... In both Europe and the United States, the study of the impact of the past upon the present has become a central focus of research for sociologists, political scientists and historians alike.(1) After decades of concentrating on more tangible,...

Ideologies in the making of the Spanish transition.(Special Issue on Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain: No Longer Different?)
October 1, 1998... It is not my intention here to rewrite the history of Spain's transition to democracy after General Franco's death in November 1975. In the few pages available, it would be impossible even to offer an overview of that 'ruptura-pactada' or...

The Spanish 'state of autonomies': non-institutional federalism.(Special Issue on Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain: No Longer Different?)
October 1, 1998... Spain is one of the countries in Europe with the most visible cleavages on territorial issues. Regional inequalities and rivalries, as well as language policy, have been given increasing salience on the political agenda during the last few...

Stabilising the democratic order: electoral behaviour in Spain.(Special Issue on Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain: No Longer Different?)
October 1, 1998... The first democratic elections after the death of Franco were held on 15 June 1977. On that warm, bright sunny day, almost 20 million Spaniards turned out to vote, sharing the feelings of responsibility, hope and satisfaction which characterise...

Political scandals and political responsibility in democratic Spain.(Special Issue on Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain: No Longer Different?)
October 1, 1998... This study(1) is not a description of all the cases of political corruption which have taken place during 20 years of democracy in Spain.(2) It would, in any case, be impossible to undertake such a task in these few pages. Instead, this...

Power diffusion or concentration? In search of the Spanish policy process.(Special Issue on Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain: No Longer Different?)
October 1, 1998... Much of the literature on post-Franco Spain has referred to the country's democratic political organisation as corporatist or neo-corporatist.(1) There are two main reasons that such a view has gained widespread acceptance. First, the 'pacted'...

Pressure groups and the articulation of interests.(Special Issue on Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain: No Longer Different?)
October 1, 1998... In a classic work on politics and pressure groups in Spain over the past century, Juan Linz argued that the organisation and articulation of pressure groups requires prolonged periods of political stability that allow such groups to consolidate...

Judicial review and political empowerment: abortion in Spain.(Special Issue on Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain: No Longer Different?)
October 1, 1998... THE TENSION BETWEEN JUDICIAL REVIEW AND DEMOCRACY In most democracies, parliaments are restrained by constitutional courts (or supreme courts). When elected majorities make legislation, they must respect the content of fundamental laws,...

Spanish socialists, privatising the right way?(Special Issue on Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain: No Longer Different?)
October 1, 1998... "'My sight is failing', she said finally. 'Even when I was young I could not have read what was written there. But it appears to me that that wall looks different. Are the Seven Commandments the same as they used to be, Benjamin?'" George...

Regional decentralisation of health policy in Spain: social capital does not tell the whole story.(Special Issue on Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain: No Longer Different?)
October 1, 1998... The regional devolution of welfare policies raises at least three key questions about equity. First, how does the territorial structure of the state affect social policy outputs? This question ultimately concerns the impact of decentralisation...

The 'soft side' of employment policy: the Spanish experience.(Special Issue on Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain: No Longer Different?)
October 1, 1998... 'HARD' AND 'SOFT' SIDES OF EMPLOYMENT POLICY Spain continues to face a very serious problem of under-utilisation of her human resources, with exceptionally high rates of unemployment.(1) About one fifth of her working population is either...